Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Find me a Farm?

What if there was an intermediary online platform for farmers and landowners? A site for landowners to post available land, where farmers could search for something that fits their vision for an agricultural business?

There is! Enter, Vermont Land Link.

Vermont Land Link is an online platform that connects farmers with property owners looking to sell or rent their land. Currently, 1,236 farm seekers and 54 property listings are up on the site, and more are added weekly. The website stays active and current at a time when more and more farmland is in transition in Vermont.

“For many new and established farmers, simply finding available land is a huge challenge. On the other side of the equation, more and more private, public and organizational landowners want to make land available for farming. They want farmers to find them.” -Vermont Land Link website.

Vermont Land Link (VLL) provides a place for property listers to sell or rent their land and/or farm businesses. At the same time, farm seekers can use just one website to see the many farms available for rent or purchase around the state. VLL property listings include basic information like the acreage, listing price, and seller contact information, but also more detailed information about farm infrastructure, potential tenure agreements, and the farm’s current use and history. Farm seekers and property listers alike can seek each other out with ease by using this platform.

And it gets better. There’s a real human behind the scenes! Vermont Land Link is managed by Nikki Lennart, Farm Business Specialist at the Intervale Center. When prospective farmers, or new-to-VLL farmers, join the website, Nikki can reach out and let them know about resources available in the state for beginning and established farmers. She can introduce them to Vermont Land Trust’s Farmland Access Program or the Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program and let them know about business planning and agricultural services that are available to them for free through an array of Vermont agricultural service organizations.  

Nikki becomes aware of new profiles and makes contact when she sees a farmer that might be a good fit for a property that she knows is listed on the site or available through the Vermont Land Trust. Nikki will even visit a farmer or property owner to get a better idea of their working history and what they are looking for. She gets to know the individuals behind the profiles and aims to facilitate a quality match.

Of facilitating that connection, Nikki says, “Historically, farms were more likely to be passed down through the family. Now, most retiring farmers have not identified a successor to keep the family farm going. Yet there’s no shortage of people who want to farm- just look at the disproportionate numbers of farm seekers to property listings on our website. Along with access to capital, access to land is one of the greatest hurdles faced by beginning farmers in the United States. Vermont Land Link represents one possible step toward solving a nationwide puzzle of how to support aging, experienced farmers who want to exit out of agriculture while building pathways for the next generation of producers.”

Vermont Land Link is made possible because of the Center’s strong partnerships through the Vermont Farmland Access Task Force with organizations like Land For Good, UVM Extension, the Vermont New Farmer Project, Vermont Land Trust, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, VT Farm to Plate, and the New England Farm Link Collaborative.

In fact, if farmers or landowners want to cast their net wider, they can look to the New England Farm Link Collaborative, a New-England-wide network of which Vermont Land Link is a part. The New England Farm Link Collaborative hosts the New England Farmland Finder website, which lists farm properties and educational resources throughout New England.

Want to learn more or find yourself a match? Visit vermontlandlink.org.